I recently bought some 5-50lb adjustable dumbbells with the idea of incorporating strength training into my week. Reading around though, I find that most strength training plans assume that I’ll have access to larger gym equipment like barbells and machines. I prefer to do everything at home for convenience…but that also means I have to work with my limited equipment.
Does anyone have good recommendations for exercises I can do with just dumbbells and a bench? Bonus if they are also relatively safe to perform since I’d be doing them alone without a spotter.
Front squats (once the weight is heavy, you can rest them on your shoulders) and Bulgarian split squats could be your major quad dominant exercises. Plus Romanian deadlifts and single leg deadlifts.
I have short femurs and good ankle mobility, so pistol squats were not too hard for me to perform (went through a progression, then was able to load them with kettlebells), YMMV, great to be able to do, because they can be done anywhere.
Once you feel competent in the movements, an easy way to program is “auto-regulated double progression”, where you start with a rep range (say 5-10) and a set target (say 4), then you start with a weight that you can do for 4x5. As you repeat the exercise, you find yourself able to add more reps. E.g., 5,5,5,5, then 6,5,5,6, then 6,6,6,7. Eventually, you are able to to 4x10, then you increase the weight to be back to around 4x5.
Something I forgot to mention - I eventually outgrew my adjustable dumbbell sets, at least in terms of comfort (I don’t enjoy heavy single leg deadlifts and Bulgarian split squats), so I started going to the gym once per week for legs (and doing lighter unilateral stuff at home another day), starting out with trap bar deadlifts and leg press, switching the leg press to box squats a month ago. About a year ago, I started really prioritizing it (going before I ride, rather than after) and learning a bit more about programming, and I’ve seen great gains (despite progressing weight very slowly due to a history of back issues) . My trap bar deadlift 5 rep max went from 225 lbs to 375 lbs. Currently box squatting 225 lbs for 5. I weigh 154 lbs.
My sprint hasn’t changed at all. Before I did any strength training, my max power was around 1000 w on a good day, and it’s still around that. There may be issues in how I sprint, but having legs capable of producing significantly more force hasn’t changed anything.
This will likely go against what you’ve read or heard: increase your reps. You’ll get more pedaling power being able to squat 200 lbs 15 times than 225 lbs 5 times. Heavy weight x higher reps is better than heavier weight x low reps. Alternatively you could take 5 months to move your 225 to 15 reps but that’s gonna ruin your summer riding. Expect significant difficulty pedaling until you allow for a recovery week this kind of strength training will trash your legs in the short term.
What I wrote wasn’t meant to be a total account of all the set and rep schemes I have done and do. Of course, if I could do 200 x 15, 225 x 5 would not be much.
Just, I’m at one end of the bell curve (strong, but not explosive) , and other people might be there, too.
